Kant: The Philosophy of Right PDF
Preview Kant: The Philosophy of Right
Philosophers in Perspective Kant: The Philosophy of Right Philosophers in Perspective General Editor: A. D. Woozley A series of books designed to throw light on the scope and articulation of the work of the most important philosophers Published titles Kant: The Philosophy of Right: 1effrie G. Murphy john Stuart Mill: H. J. McCloskey Forthcoming titles: Aristotle: J. L. Ackrill Hegel: H. B. Acton Berheil'y: H. M. Bracken The FTench Enlightenment: J. H. Brumfitt Descartes: 'Alan Gewirth jean-jacques Rousseau: 1. C. Hall Karl Marx: Eugene Kamenka SfJinoza: Douglas Lewis Jeremy Ben I ham: David Lyons 1. ]olm Lache: D. Mabbott Dfwid Hume: T. Penelhum Plato: Colin Strang KANT: THE PHILOSOPHY OF RIGHT ]effrie G. 1Hurphy Associate Professor of Philosophy University of Arizona Macmillan © Jeffrie G. Murphy 1970 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1970 978-0-333-07460-2 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission. First published rg7o by MACMILLAN AND CO LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in New York Toronto Dublin Melbourne johannesburg and Madras Library of Congress catalog card no. 75-108406 ISBN 978-0-333-11140-6 ISBN 978-1-349-15384-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-15384-8 (paper) ISBN 978-333-11140-4 To Lewis White Beck Acknowledgements Permission has been given to quote extensive passages from the following translations of works by Kant: Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, translated by Lewis White Beck, copyright © 1959, by The Liberal Arts Press, reprinted by permission of the Liberal Arts Division of The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc. The Metaphysical Elements of justice, translated by John Ladd, copyright© 1965, by the Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., reprinted by rermission of the College Division of The Bobbs-Merril Company, Inc. It should be noted that the author has made stylistic changes in these and other translations used and that these changes should not be attributed to the translations. For detailed study of the pas·sages discussed, the reader should consult the translations themselves or Kant's original German. Contents Preface 9 A Note on the Texts 11 Kant's Life and Thought Intellectual Biography; The Pre-critical Philosophy-The Critical Philosophy The Character of Kant's Ethics - A Terminological Prelude 2 Morality and Freedom ss-86 Introduction - The Categorical Im perative - Moral Universalisation and Freedom 3 The Criterion of Moral Right Introduction - The Law of Nature - The Essential Ends of Humanity- The Criterion of Moral Right 4 Justice and the Rule of Law 109-49 Introduction - Locke's Theory and the Kantian Reply - The Nature of Legiti mate Law and Government-Resistance and Revolution - The Nature and Justification of Criminal Punishment - The Common Good - Perpetual Peace 7 Appendix: A Note on Kant's Influence 151 !Votes 154 Select Bibliography 176 !Vame Index 183 Subject Index 184 8 Preface The present study is an attempt to present a critical exposition of Kant's philosophy of right. By a 'phil osophy of right' I understand an attempt to discover those principles definitive of the moral rectitude of actions. The contrast here is with a theory of virtue - an attempt to characterise (generally in terms of mo tives) the morally worthy agent. The large place in the literature on Kant's ethics has stressed his conception of virtue, where discussions of such mentalistic notions as 'respect for duty' and 'the good will' abound. By focus ing upon the philosophy of right, I do not intend to depreciate Kant's theory of virtue. Rather, in keeping with the thrust of this series, I focus upon the philo sophy of right because it is here that principles are presented which illuminate the issues of social and political ethics - viz. duties to others which are prima facie a proper object of enforcement through State coercion. There is some controversy over whether or not Kant regards pfiichtmiissig or right actions as cap able of having any moral worth at all; however, since I have discussed this question in detail elsewhere,1 I shall here simply assume that pfiichtmiissig actions (i.e. externally right actions considered without regard to the motive which prompts them) are a proper object of moral evalution and can be said to have moral worth. Parts of an earlier draft of this manuscript were read by Professors Robert L. Holmes and Lewis White Beck of the University of Rochester, and by Professor Gareth Matthews, my former colleague at the University of Minnesota. I have learned much from their helpful comments but have, no doubt to my eventual regret, resisted their enlightenment at many points. And so the usual claim for sole responsibility for error is quite 9
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